My Little Friends
by MaliciousMoanna
Summary: I am the perfect student. I have a bright future and a perfect record. No loose ends. But what happens if Naruto characters in chibi form start jumping out of my mirror with only one ambition: explore the new world they stumbled into? Rated M for Hidan's language.
1. Chapter 1

**~*~ Chapter 1 - ~*~**

Stellenbosch University. That is my dream. My only dream. I have one more exam to take, and that exam is the one the university will be looking at. The mid-year exam of grade 11. It is not good enough to get great marks. I have to do perfect. That is why every single one of my days are scheduled: from getting up, going to school, each of my study sessions for every day, right up until the amount of 'free time' I have in order for my brain to rest before moving on to the following subject. During my free time, I watch a single episode of my all-time favourite TV shows: Naruto.

South Africa is ready for a white, female president. My name is Lila Ivan, and I am ready to take that responsibility. I mean absolutely no offense toward the other races in the country, except that it is time they step aside. They are good with a lot of things, but running a country is not one of them.

As I sit in my parents' car, on my way home from school, I think about the following twenty years. Education is priority. I will get a Doctorate, marry Justin, run the country and make it a better place.

Justin is King Popular at Strand High School. He is every bit the cliche you see in movies. Blonde hair, blue eyes, perfect body, captain of three different sports and, on top of it all, ridiculously rich. That is why he would be perfect for my image.

As for me, on the other hand...

I am not ugly. I know that. I just freak people out because I'm something between a nerd and a plastic. I get perfect grades even though I am pretty good looking. Brown, waist-length hair, green eyes, considerable fashion sense and good curves. On the inside, I am full of myself. On the outside, not so much. I don't exactly have a lot of friends. I don't know, I just ... I keep to myself.

Alex is my only friend, really.

Well, he's Asian. One of those super-smart, learn-a-language-in-a-month sorts. Alex is just his English name, because people make fun of him because of the real one.

Back to the car.

We go past the lake in front of the school, right up until Lourensrivier street, take a right, and head home to our double storey, yellowish house in Grey street. Well, the house is divided into three flats. We live on the second floor.

"Your mother will be home a little late," he tells me as we pull into the driveway. "So you can make your own food."

"Such a surprise," I say sarcastically, getting out.

The moment Dad drops me off, he heads back to work. I don't even try to keep track with what he does anymore. He dabbles in about a hundred different things each year. He's like Bob the Butler: he's taken to buying Job Mail once every two weeks and applying to each job.

As I start taking out my school books to get started on revising for Biology, I notice something in the corner of my eye. I have a sink in my bedroom, with a mirror hanging above it. And for a moment, just a short moment, the mirror seemed to move.

I stare at it for several seconds. When nothing happens, I shake my head at myself and take out my books. All this studying must be giving me hallucinations as warning signs or something. But I know I can't stop studying. I have to get perfect marks.

Then it happens again.

With a temper as short as mine, I walk right up to the mirror as slap it with the back of my hand.

It starts rippling, like when you throw a stone in the water. The ripples become more violent. A pitch black hole appears in the middle. My heart beats furiously. There is a sound of loud splashing, but instead of water, something jumps out of the mirror and onto my face.

I scream, pulling at whatever it is clutching onto the skin on my cheeks. Finally, after I feel as though I am about to faint, the thing lets go and I hear a pain-stricken grunt on the floor.

I hyperventilate for several moments, my hands over my eyes, hoping against hope it's not an alien or something.

"Was that really necessary?" a familiar voice asks. I cannot pinpoint it, but I know that I've heard that voice before.

I lower my hands. I know that my eyes are playing tricks on me.

On the floor, standing three inches tall, with a disproporionately large head holding eyes just as big, is a tiny Hyuuga Neji.

I burst out laughing.

"Why are you laughing, weakling? Why have you brought me here, to the land of giants?" he demands, trying to look threatening but failing so badly. I laugh even worse.

"Stop laughing immediately!"

"I'm a _giant_?" I ask when I finally calm down, "You're freaking three inches tall!"

He glares at me for a moment, walks toward me with an adorable mischievous look on his face and stops right at my feet. He closes his eyes, then starts turning in a circle.

"Kaiten!" he says. A blue sphere of chakra envelopes him, but apart from the sensation that a cat is brushing me with its tail, I do not feel anything.

I bend down and pick him up by the back of the collar.

"Unhand me, minion!" he says, thrashing about.

"How on earth did you get here?" I ask him, "That is, if this is not some disturbingly vivid dream..."

"You are the one who brought me here," he says angrily, "So you must be the one who knows how to return me back to Konoha. Go about it immediately. Let me go this instant."

"No," I say, "Because I know that, the moment I let you go, you're going to run rampant in the streets, asking any person passing you if they know how to return you home. You know that they will take you to a lab and do experiments on you, don't you?"

"Ah-hah!" he says, "Experiments, huh? Are you in league with Orochimaru?"

I snort. I take a spare box from the inside of my closet (one that was left over from when we moved), and place him inside. I can hear him performing all manners of jutsus, but to no avail.

I study in the sitting room, not being able to concentrate anywhere else and, when I make myself dinner (Mac 'n Cheese with bacon inside), I hand him a piece of macaroni and a piece of bacon.

He pulls a face, "Ugh, what is this?"

"Food," I say, "You're not in Japan now, Mini Neji, so there's no ramen. Eat up."

I close the box again, eat, study some more and, before going to bed, place a pillow inside the box.

"You can use the cover as a blanket," I say, "My room doesn't get all that cold, so you should be all right."

"Just take me back to Konoha," he snaps.

"I can't, ok?" I retort, "I don't know how you got here so, QED, I don't know how to send you back. We'll figure it out over the weekend. Tomorrow is Thursday, so you only have to hold out for two days, all right?"

"Hmph."

I close the box again and go to bed where, hopefully, I've been all along.

**A/N:** So there's the first chapter. For the record, I really hold no racistic grudge against any other race. This is purely just for Lila's character.

For those who do not know and, like me when reading a fic and don't understand a word, do not want to look it up, QED is Latin for _Quod Erat_ _Demonstrandum_, and it is used to prove the truth of your claim. If you want another example of where it is used, Jack Sparrow says it in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. That's where I heard it the first time XD

Anyway, hope this chapter held your attention. Stay tuned for the next one. And don't forget to R&R.

XD


	2. Chapter 2

**~*~ Chapter 2 - New Visitors ~*~**

I do not open my eyes immediately. Even behind my eyelids, I know that sunlight is shining brightly into my bedroom.

_Just a few more seconds_, I tell myself.

Sure enough, no less than fourteen seconds later, my alarm starts ringing. I open my eyes, reach toward the side and switch it off.

"Finally awake, are we?"

Chibi Neji is sitting on my bedside cabinet, looking as grumpy as ever. But that is not all.

"Oh, dear God," I say, rubbing my forehead dejectedly.

Beside Neji, there are three other Chibis now sitting: Tenten, Rock Lee and Might Gai.

"Hello there, princess!" Lee says dramatically, "I hear that you are the one who will save us from this confusion!"

"No, actually," I say, getting up, "I'm the one who's going to go to class now."

"But why will you not help us?" Gai says, standing up. A twinkle appears in the tooth visible through his grin as he says, "Every youthful child must help friends in need."

"You're not my friends, and I have to get ready for school."

I exit the room, shower, get dressed, brush my teeth but, when I get back to my room, the three small people are still sitting on the cabinet, talking in forced hushed tones. They stop as soon as I'm inside the room. I pretend not to have noticed.

"So you're just going to leave us here?" Tenten asks.

"Yes," I say, "Look, I'm really sorry that you're not home. But I can't help you. I can't teleport people through dimensions and I really don't have time to waste with something like this, anyway. I gotta go to school."

"Wait!" Tenten calls just as I want to exit through the door. I stop short and glare at them. "Please. Won't you even try to help us get back home?"

"I've got finals coming up. I can't waste time on that right now."

With that, I leave the room and the house. I spend the entire journey walking to school, convincing myself that what I left in the house will absolutely not interfere with my life, especially not during this crucial time. It might even be that I'm delusional, and that what I left in the house actually isn't even in the house, and that I'm so stressed out over the exams that I'm getting hallucinations.

The first half of the day goes by perfectly normal. I find out that I scored perfect grades in both my Maths and English tests, and received a gold certificate for the Biology olimpiade I had written during the first term.

Recess arrives and I am on my way to my chess class, but I stop short when I hear a strange noise. I look around me, but all the classrooms and the hallway I am in are empty.

"You're stepping on my face!" a muffled voice says.

"Maybe I can make you better-looking!"

I frown. Oh, dear. Please, not this. Not now ...

I take my backpack from my back, faintly hearing a muffled "ssshhh", and open it up. I slap my hand to my forehead. There aren't any swearwords in any of the languages in all the world to prove my despondensy at this point.

"Hi," Tenten says with a nervous grin.

"What are you four doing here?" I whisper, glad that the hallway is deserted. "I told you to stay at the house!"

"You cannot possibly expect me to yield to the likes of you," Neji says arrogantly.

"Go back to the house, ok? Leave me alone!"

"But you must help us return to Konoha," Gai says, climbing out from underneath Lee and standing on top of the bag, "It is your responsibility. We arrived via your mirror, hence it is your duty to secure our return."

"Well, how about I sell the mirror-"

"Then we will never be able to go back!" Lee says, finally having found his balance and also climbing out of the bag, "Please, princess!"

"Stop calling me a princess," I snap irritably, "I have to get to chess class."

"What about us?"

"You were supposed to stay at the house in the first place-"

"Lila?" a voice calls from around the corner.

"Get in the bag," I hiss urgently. They comply. I close it up and put it on my back just as Alex turns the corner and starts walking toward me. "Heya."

"Who were you talking to?"

"No one - I - uh ... I was on the phone," I lie, taking my phone from the inside of my jacket and showing it to him.

"Oh, well, come on. Otherwise we'll be late," he says, and we head to chess class.

During the rest of the day, I live in fear that one of the chibis inside my bag will pop out when there are people around, or talk to each other within earshot of anyone else. Surprisingly, they are dead quiet all through the two periods before second recess. I let them out when the bell rings with the instructions that they better be back by the end, before heading off to chess again.

By the end of the day, I'm a nervous wreck, because I found out that, within two days, I am writing a Consumer Studies class test. How on earth am I supposed to study when my room is crawling with tiny ninjas?

I lock them out of the house, close the windows and study straight until nightfall before letting them in and making dinner. All four of them look at the cooked food in disgust, but eat their share nevertheless. After showering, I spend the rest of the evening surfing the internet, trying to find out if anything like this has happened before, but unsurprised when I find nothing.

"Sorry guys," I tell them before going to bed. I took to arranging a bed for them inside a box on the bookshelf standing in the corner of my room.

The following morning, I am woken by yet more familiar voices, only to open my eyes and discover that four more chibis have broken through the veil seperating their universe from mine: Team Seven.

"Do not talk down to me, blockhead," Sasuke is telling Neji. They appear to be in an argument.

"I am much stronger than you," Neji says, "So watch your tone with me."

"Katon, Goukakyou no jutsu!" Sasuke says, but the flame spurting from is hand is not much bigger than that a candle would make. Neji laughs at him, and Naruto joins in.

"Good morning," Kakashi says, approaching me.

"How - the hell - did you get here?" I say through gritted teeth, annoyed out of my mind.

"I was actually hoping you would be able to tell us," he replies, "But judging by what those four have been saying ..."

"I don't know," I finish. I glance up again.

Sakura and Tenten are fighting over Sasuke, while Sasuke and Neji are in a catfight, occasionally ganging up against Naruto for messing with them, and Lee is training ... by punching the edge of my closet.

"Cut it out!" I yell angrily.

"Lila?" my mother calls from the kitchen, "What's going on in there?"

"Nothing - uh ... I'm watching Naruto!"

"Huh?" Naruto says, glancing at me.

"Nothing, alright?" I hiss, "I have to go to school. _Please_. Will all of you just stay here today? Explore the town, but don't be seen. You're ninjas. You know how to blend in, right?"

After my parents leave for work, there is a very loud argument, which I finally win - convincing the lot of them not to follow me to school.

When I get back home that afternoon, however, it is to find the food cupboards' contents strewn all across the kitchen counter and floor. The curtain railing along with the curtains themselves and balanced on two couches. There are burnt marks all over the floors and walls, most likely from fire jutsus.

"_KAKASHI_!" I yell. One by one, the chibis start filing into the room, right up until the grey-haired ninja, with Come Come Paradise in hand, enters the room lazily, "Why the hell didn't you control them?! You're a teacher, for God's sake! This is my home! I told you to get out of it!"

"I cannot control six youngsters by myself, you know," he says, closing the book, "After about two hours, I just got tired of trying."

"CLEAN THE DAMN HOUSE RIGHT THIS INSTANT, OR I SWEAR, I'M GOING TO LOCK ALL OF YOU UP AND MAKE SURE YOU NEVER GET BACK TO KONOHA!" I yell.

If my parents find the house like this, they will skin me alive. And I do not have time to clean: I have the test the following day. I grab my books and storm off to the beach - it's only a few blocks away.

When I come back three hours later, the house is sparkling clean and daisy fresh. I am still fuming, but I calm down slightly at the sight. All the chibis are sitting on the couch.

"We're really sorry!" Sakura says, "I tried to stop the boys, but-"

"Don't be such a suck-up," I say irritably, "No thanks for messing up the house, but thanks for cleaning it up again."

I spend several hours looking on the internet again for anything -_ absolutely anything_ - that might help me in this situation. But, once again, I hit a dead end.

I grab another box from the top of my closet to make a bed for Team Kakashi before going to bed myself, but I wake up in the middle of the night by several whispers, arguing incessently.

"Guys," I say groggily, "Keep it down, will ya?"

"Are you adressing me, weakling?" an unfamiliar-ish voice says. Dreading what I might see, I reach toward the side and switch on the nightlight.

"Oh, dear God ..."

Standing on my bedroom floor, the entire chibi Akatuski are standing.

**A/N:** Heya guys, I realise that updates are coming a little slow, but school just started up again so I'm having difficulty keeping the spice up. Anyhow, the biggest motivation you can offer is by actually motivating me, lol ...

Ideas as to where the story could go, flames, 'good work', 'nice story' ... it's all welcome. The more reviews I get, the more motivated I am to update as fast as possible with as nice as possible an update.

Anyway, hope you'll keep on reading, and stay tuned for the next chapter.

XD


	3. Chapter 3

**~*~ Chapter 3 - Nervous Breakdown ~*~**

"How and why have you brought us here, insignificant peasant?" Pein asks me.

"I didn't!" I hiss, "I don't even know how all of you are coming here, and frankly, I just want you to go back to wherever the hell you came from."

"You should speak to me with more respect," he says. In a flash, he is standing on my legs, glaring at me with nothing more than condescension.

"That's rich, considering you're about twenty times smaller than me," I snap. "Look, do whatever you want, but do it quietly. I've got a test tomorrow, so-"

"Hmph."

Taking a tiny kunai from inside his coat, Pein stabs me in the chest with it. Well, tries, anyway.

"_Ow_! What the hell!" I say, grabbing his whole body with one hand and squeezing hard enough for him to be restrained. I look down at my chest. It doesn't bleed much. The tiny knife was unable to tear too much of my flesh. It's not much more than a needle prick.

Flaring with anger, I throw him as hard as I can, and he hits the opposite wall, falling to the floor with a grunt.

"She is strong," he says through gritted teeth, "Kill her."

All at once, the tiny Akatsuki clan make ready to pounce at me. In a flash, both Team Kakashi and Team Gai are standing in front of me, ready to retaliate.

"Oh, my damn, I've gone insane," I say, rubbing my forehead. "All right, that's enough."

I get up and exit the room, closing the door behind me when I hear the two groups of chibis beginning to fight, and scout around the room. There's got to be something I can lock them all in. I cross the sitting room and go to the balcony, where I find a single plastic crate.

When I go back inside my room, it's pure pandemonium. Neji's Kaiten, Deidara's would-be explosions, Konan's paper, Sasuke and Itachi's fireballs, Tenten's weapons and, in between it all, Lee and Gai going crazy with Taijutsu.

Insane with anger at having been woken up in the middle of the night right before a test, I start grabbing at whichever chibi with a red and black coat I can and shoving them in the crate. When four are inside, I tip it over and place my foot on it to prevent their escape. When I look down, I see that I have Kisame, Hidan, Kakuzu and Zetsu trapped. Three are despondent, but calm all the same. One, however ...

"What the fuck, bitch?" Hidan yells, "Let me the fuck out of here, or I swear, Jashin will eat you for dinner!"

"Ha ha," I say sarcastically, grabbing Deidara just as he aimed a kick at my face. I lift the crate, shove him inside and drop it again. Tobi willingly runs toward the crate, terrified of being squished by my 'big hands'.

For more than an hour, all the other chibis and I struggle to capture the remaining three Akatsuki: Pein, Itachi and Konan. Eventually, when I am close to breaking down with anger, we manage to catch them.

"Let me at him!" Sasuke says with loathing, nearing the crate and glaring at a bored-looking. I bend over and grab him by the collar, lifting him up. "Let me go this instant!"

I flick him on the forehead, and he grabs at his face with a grunt of pain. "Now you listen to me, all right? I am fucking sick of you and your little friends ruining my chances of getting perfect marks. For the past two days the lot of you have disturbed my study sessions, and now, right before the test, you're disturbing my sleep. I am sick of it!"

I throw him at the wall. He lands on the floor with a pain-filled grunt, and I feel all the chibis' angry glares on me.

I look down at the Akatsuki under the crate. "You're going to stay inside this crate. If you try to get out, I'm throwing you out onto the balcony, and you can sleep there. It's the middle of winter, which means it pisses rain day in and day out. You got it? And you-" I point at the two Genin teams "-go back to sleep. Quietly."

They head for the bookcase with hanging heads and get into the two boxes. I place a pair of my heaviest books on top of the crate and get back into bed, still trembling and fuming with rage.

Ten, maybe even twenty minutes later, I finally feel my eyelids drooping. I finally feel comfortable and feel myself drifting off to sleep ...

The crate shifts.

"Ok, that is it!" I growl. I grab a piece of carton, aware of the eight pairs of eyes watching me from the bookcase and shove it underneath the crate.

"Ow, you hurt Tobi's foot!"

"Well, that's just tough luck, you orange-faced moron!" I growl, picking the crate up along with the carton and storming out of the room.

Careful not to let the crate lift, I open the sliding door opening up onto the balcony and throw them all out before swiftly closing it again. The breeze that got into the house was ice cold, and the rain, just as much. Good.

I go back to bed.

Not ten minutes later, there's a soft tapping on the window above my bed.

_It's just the tree_, I tell myself, _It's just the tree's branches_.

Three more taps, followed by several more, on two different places.

"Please, let us in, miss," Tobi's voice says.

I run my fingers through my hair, clinging onto the skin. _I'm going to lose my mind_, I realise, _I'm going to lose my fucking mind_.

"Dude, let us the fuck into the house. It's fucking cold out here," Hidan's voice says. I ignore them. "Wake the fuck up and open the window!"

"Holy shit!" I growl, shoving the windows open.

A sorry sight of three different chibis - Tobi, Hidan and Deidara - meet my eyes. They are sogging wet and shivering from head to toe.

"Lila?"

I hurriedly close the curtains again just as my mother enters the room, looking grumpy and still halfway asleep. "Yes, mum?"

"What are you doing?"

"Uh - studying," I lie, "I - uhm - I'm repeat - yeah - repeating everything I've studied."

"Oh, well, you should rather get some sleep," she says.

"Sleep, yes, definitely."

"Good night."

"Night," I say, waiting for her to close the door before opening the curtains again. "Promise that you'll shut your pie-hole and sleep?"

"I swear with my hand on Jashin's head," Hidan says.

"Tobi promises!"

"Un."

I open the window, "You three, get in. The others should stay outside. Kisame and Zetsu will be fine, and the rest are a bunch of dicks."

"Thank you, miss," Tobi says as the three of them hop in through the window, careful not to step on my pillows. Just as I'm about to close the curtains, I notice something.

"Oh, damn, the sun is rising," I say angrily. I glare that the three chibis in front of me, "No noise. Sleep. Now."

I am woken by the ringing of my phone. My eyes snap open, even though I feel as though I didn't sleep at all. Bright sunlight is filing in through the gap between the curtains. I rub my eyes and answer the phone.

"What?" I ask groggily.

"Where the hell are you?" Alex's voice asks from the other end of the line, "You missed the test!"

I slap my hand to my forehead and look at the clock on my bedside cabinet. It's almost noon.

"I know," I say, my heart heavy, "I know I missed the test."

**A/N: **Hoping things are turning a little more humorous now. Stay tuned for the next chapter.

Don't forget to R&R please!

And if you want, I have another Naruto fic called Fighting With One's Self. I'd love to get more feedback on it. Also, if you like Supernatural, I have a fic on that also. Please check out those other works of mine. I always enjoy reviews.

Peace out, bitches

XD


	4. Chapter 4

**~*~ Chapter 4 - Not At School ~*~**

It's been a little less than half an hour since Alex called. I didn't even bother getting ready and going to school, because I know that I would come home to a pile of rubble if I leave the house.

Tobi and Deidara are fairly quiet and mind their own business, but the rest of the chibis are insane. Pein snuck in through the kitchen window early in the afternoon and the others followed him. Since then, he has been doing all he can to try and kill me. Fortunately for me, he has neither his other six bodies or size on his side. None of his jutsus hurt me, but he is annoying as hell.

Konan is just as annoying. All she succeeds in doing is summoning papers that cause a storm of annoyance wherever she goes.

Hidan doesn't really know what he's doing. The moment he saw a fight start, he started swinging his scythe madly, not really aiming but swearing very much.

The rest of the Akatsuki are countering attacks from the Konoha chibis. Sasuke is hell-bent on trying to kill Itachi, and Kakashi and Gai are trying to get at Kisame. Zetsu and Kakuzu are keeping the other Genins at bay.

"For fuck's sake, quit attacking me!" I scream at Pein as another flurry of papers fly before my eyes and a needle prick touches my neck.

"Where did you get the power to transport us here?" he demands. I swing my arms wildly, hoping to hit either him or his blue-haired bitch of a girlfriend.

"I didn't, damn it! I told you! I have no idea why all of you are coming here, ok? I don't know!"

"You will pay for lying to me, weakling. I do not tolerate being lied to."

Growling with rage, I storm out of my bedroom and into the kitchen, where I grab both of our fly swats and, just as I turn around and see that Konan is about to attack with her papers, I swat her. She falls onto the counter with a dull _thunk_, unconscious.

Pein glares at me with loathing, and starts a fresh wave of attacks from all sides. I hear knocking on the door and concerned voices calling from beyond.

"Go away, I'm not home!" I yell. Everyone who lives around me knows that I say that when I do not want to be disturbed.

"Dude, it's me!" Alex's voice says after a few moments just as I try and fail to hit Pein with the swat.

"I'M NOT HOME!"

"Perhaps I should torture your friends," Pein tells me, every word coming from another direction due to his teleporting, "That ought to loosen your tongue."

"Well, perhaps I should kill Konan. That ought to bind yours," I snap.

Finally, with a great big swipe, the handle of the fly swat catches him on the side of the head. I gasp for breath, bending over. I notice that both my arms and legs are full of cuts and pricks. Sweat is running down my face and down my back. I look at the clock on top of the fridge.

"Fucking hell, I've been at this for two hours," I breathe.

Shaking my head, I reach into one of the cupboards and take out our largest tin can: about the size of a five litre bottle. My grandmother gave it to us on my birthday. It used to contain all my favourite cookies. Now it's going to contain three-inch people.

I shove Pein and Konan into the can after banging their heads on the side of the counter just to make sure they don't wake up too soon, not bothering to be gentle, and clip it shut. After locking it with the tiny lock that came with the can and placing the crate over it, I take the fly swats again and enter the pandemonium in my bedroom.

Everything is just as I left it: everyone fighting.

"Ameterasu!" I hear a deep voice say. That one word fills me with panic, and I look to the source.

Itachi had aimed the black flames at Sasuke. Naturally, the little brat dodged it and, even though the attack is not at all powerful when its source is three inches tall, it nonetheless caused my duvet cover to catch fire.

"Fucking hell, you idiot!" I scream. I grab Alex's leather jacket - the one I've been meaning to return to him - and kill the fire with some difficulty.

I hear more knocks on the front door, and one of my neighbours standing in the middle of the street, trying to peek into my bedroom.

"For fuck's sake, I'm not home!" I yell, and pull the curtains shut before returning to Sasuke and Itachi's battle.

I aim the swat at Itachi, but miss, hitting Sasuke instead, the next best thing. As soon as the little brat's attacks ceased, his older brother also calmed down. He casually strolls over to where Deidara is sitting and making statues, and sits down next to him.

After, with a lot of difficulty, slapping Kakashi and Gai out of the way, I manage to grab Kisame and, after a few more minutes, Zetsu. After giving each of them a concussion on the kitchen counter and putting them in the tin can, I look around my bedroom with a sigh.

My pillows are torn in places and feathers are strewn over my bed and the floor and there are tiny puddles of blood here and there.

_At least it doesn't look as bad as it did yesterday_, I think.

"Ok, guys, I need to get some ground rules going," I say dejectedly, "And in return, I will do everything I can to get you back."

Everyone sits down on the bed. Naruto falls over backwards and passes out. Sakura is holding Sasuke's head in her lap. The remaining Akatsuki sitting in the corner of the room pay me no heed.

"No noises after ten p.m. and until seven a.m., please. That's my bedtime. I have school. I have to work hard in order to get perfect marks, all right? When I leave you at the house, please, do not break anything. Do not jump on the couches, or punch the windows, or cut the pillows - or each other, for that matter. In short, keep the house in order. Can you do that?"

"Sure," most of them say.

Neji nods and Lee and Gai dramatically go about cleaning the room, competing as to who can clean the most in the shortest time. Kakashi gets up and sits on my desk, taking Come Come Paradise from his pocket and reading.

"Akatsuki dudes," I say, looking at them over my shoulder, "You got that?"

Itachi does nothing, Deidara nods and Tobi says, "Yes, miss. By the way, what's your name?"

"Lila," I reply, "And Itachi, if you ever perform Ameterasu in my house again, I'm going to drown you. Got it?"

He still doesn't respond to me. I roll my eyes.

"I am tired as fuck. I locked all the others up, so they shouldn't bother us for quite some time. For now, I'm going to see if I can dig up any more shit on that damned mirror so I send all your asses back to Konoha."


	5. Chapter 5

**~*~ Chapter 5 - Books ~*~**

Days pass. I Google every angle as to how the chibis could possibly have been transported here. My research simply raises more questions instead of answering any. For example, why were they transported _here_, into _my_ bedroom, through _my_ mirror, at the exact time that I should actually be concentrating on all things academic?

After about an hour's arguing, I get my mother to write the school a letter stipulating that I am suffering from a fatal illness, and that I have been booked to stay at home for the following two weeks. It drives me insane. I mean, this could mean that my dream of getting into Stellenbosch University will be tarnished.

But I cannot risk leaving the house. Pein and the other chibis locked in the tin can need constant attention. The other two teams and I take turns. I watch them throughout the day while surfing the internet for answers, while they watch them at night, when I sleep, and two hours after I wake up, during which I work through the rest of the school work in the textbooks that I brought home on the last day I went to school. I feed them by throwing chunks of food into the can while the others make sure they can't escape.

During the first few hours after waking up, Sasuke tries to kill Itachi but, after being knocked out by my back hand seven times, he stops. I can see the amused expression underneath the stony one on Itachi's face.

Kakashi, Neji and Sasuke go on errands around the Helderberg Com, looking for answers in local museums, art centres and even spying on one or two psychics (well, people who claim to be psychics), all trying to look for answers. Lee and Gai keep the house clean, naturally. Sakura and Tenten work together to keep everyone fed after studying up on South African eating habits and adjusting to what they are calling the 'strange taste of it'. The three Akatsuki that I am permitting to go about the house keep to themselves the whole time, as though each of them exist in their own universe.

Well, mostly. Tobi goes about annoying everyone.

After three days, I am forced to conclude that there is no possible explanation on the internet for the chibis' existence. So I started digging into books. I send Gai and Lee on a train trip to Cape Town to get me some specific books I read about on the internet, trusting that they won't be stupid enough to ... well, do anything stupid. But, after reconsideration and general paranoia, I send Kakashi after them. He doesn't say anything, but runs off after a sigh.

I wait the entire day, going through all my textbooks and studying one chapter in each like I do every day, but still the three nin don't appear. I play games on my computer for an hour more, and still they don't show. Darkness sets in and, with it, a little fear on my part.

"They'll be back soon," Sakura tells me, handing me a plate of food.

"Yeah, don't worry," Tenten agrees, handing me a knife and fork.

I don't say anything. Instead, I eat in silence, wondering whether I could be responsible for the disappearance or possibly even the death of three of the most decent ninjas here.

After I've eaten and paced around the house for several minutes, my parents arrive home and I take the tin can and the other chibis to my bedroom. I hear them drinking coffee and chatting for a bit before my father goes to the study and my mother to their bedroom. I glance over at Itachi and Deidara, minding their own business in the corner.

"Dudes, what's your deal?" I ask them.

"If you're referring to the not-worried state we're in because of those three idiots, then our deal is that we do not care about them," Itachi says, turning a page of the book he's reading - and encyclopedia of animals I borrowed from the library.

"No, I mean, you're not trying to bust your boss out, you're not attacking us. You're not doing anything, really."

"I am making artworks, un," Deidara says.

"And when are they due to explode?" I ask cautiously.

"When they explode, they won't be art anymore," Itachi says. Before Deidara can cut in, he continues, "We are not doing nothing, by the way. We are waiting for you to send us back."

"Why aren't you training, then?"

"Where? And to what end?"

"Outside. Somewhere where you won't be seen," I say, "And to remain strong. Imagine if you return to Konoha and you can't even land a decent punch."

"More than ten years of training beats a few weeks of resting," he says simply.

"Fair point ..." I say. I look around my room as an awkward silence spreads. "Where the hell are those idiots?"

Just as Sakura is about to say something, there are three soft taps on the door. I open the curtain slightly to see Kakashi, looking fairly amused and carrying a massive bag over his shoulders, and Gai, carrying an unconscious Lee over his shoulders. I open the windows in a panic to let them in.

"What happened?" I ask.

"We got delayed several times," Kakashi says, looking at Gai irritably, "They kept jumping off the train to explore the surrounding area. The first few times, I jumped off with them to drag them back up, but then I got tired of it. I went to Cape Town by myself and got you these?"

"How'd you even manage to carry it?" I ask.

"Are you unaware of what chakra is?"

"Right, power, of course," I say just as Gai dumps Lee on the bed, "What happened to him?"

"Oh, it was beautiful!" Gai says dramatically, "His youth shone through every moment! It was like a burning fire, unafraid of anything!"

I look expectantly at Kakashi.

"He tap-danced on the train, facing the back of it, just as we went into a tunnel."

I snort with laughter, "He hit his head?"

"Yup. Now, if you'll excuse me, I am very curious as to what will happen next in the book."

I watch as he gets off the bed, onto the bookcase, into his box-bed and starts reading.

I look at Gai. "Tap-dancing? Really?"

"It's a beautiful form of art," he says, jumping onto the window-frame and starting to tap his feet all around him.

"You would be more artful right now if you exploded, un!" Deidara calls from the other side of the room.

"Hmph," Gai says, stopping with a clearly offended expression. He takes Lee and also gets into the box with Kakashi.

I go through the books that Kakashi got me. It's all about mythology, magic and/or cursed objects, dimensions, etc. It takes me several hours to go through all of them, by which time it's way into the morning, but I find nothing.

I have no idea how to get them back.

**A/N:** I know this was a little bit of a boring chappie, but it had to happen. It's like a filler ep, lol. I hate those too, but you kinda need it.

XD


	6. Chapter 6

**~*~ Chapter 6 - Alex ~*~**

I spend most Saturday studying, or trying to figure out what I'm going to do with these damned miniatures if I can't send them back to their homes. I do not arrive at any solution. At around six o'clock that night, Alex calls.

"Sup," I say.

"Hey," he replies, "I was just wondering if you want to go eat sushi tonight. I was thinking-"

"I cant," I interrupt, "I have some things that I need to sort out. Maybe another time."

"Please," he says, "I haven't seen you in days. Everyone is worried sick and, apparently, you're not at home if anyone knocks."

I ignore the sarcasm in his voice. "I really don't think it's a good idea."

"Not even for an hour or two? If you can skip out on school, you can come eat sushi with me."

I groan. "Fine."

I hang up. Sakura and Tenten are looking at me strangely.

"Who was that?" Sakura asks.

"A friend from school," I say, "I'm going out tonight-"

"Oh, please let us come with you!" Lee says dramatically, suddenly appearing, "My youth is faltering in this dim house! I need to get out as soon as possible!"

"I couldn't have said it better myself!" Gai says, equally dramatically, and they burst out in tears, embracing each other.

"Go," Deidara says, jumping onto the desk before I can say anything, "I will watch over the Leader and the others, un."

"And how will you prevent them from escaping?"

"I'll cover the entire can with clay, leaving open only a small hole for oxygen. If they try to escape, I kill them, un."

"And what would spark this act of generosity?" I ask.

"You are doing everything you can to send us back home. The least we can do to repay you is allowing you one night out with your friend."

I sigh. "Fine, but only if Itachi helps you watch them. I can't take any chances."

I glance at the Uchiha, sitting in the corner as usual. He nods once. Lee and Gai burst out in joy, dancing about the entire room. The rest of the chibis gather on the bed after my gesture for them.

"Ground rules: no one is allowed to be seen or heard or perceived by any other human in any way. By the time I've finished eating, you should be back, otherwise I come home without you. Got it?"

"Yessir!" Naruto and Lee chorus, and then they glare at each other.

I go to the kitchen, where Kakashi and Neji are watching the tin can.

"Hidan has been cursing the whole day. Nothing seemed to be able to stop him, until Pein knocked him out," Neji says.

"We're all going out tonight," I say, "I'll carry all of you in my backpack, and you can go explore wherever, as long as you're back by the time I come home."

"Who will watch them?" Kakashi asks, nudging his head in the tin can's direction.

"Deidara and Itachi," I say.

"Then I would rather stay here with them, to avoid any unnecessary complications," he says.

"Ok."

Alex picks me up at eight-thirty that night, with his black and red 2007 Yamaha R6 motorcycle. All the chibis are safe in my backpack, but I feel them fidget uncomfortably as he sets off at a slightly uncomfortable speed.

He doesn't mention my absence once while we eat. After half an hour, we're the only tables left in Soo She Restaurant, the place where Alex's brother also works, but he is not here. As the last of the other customers leave, I gradually feel my backpack becoming lighter and lighter as the chibis file outside.

"So," he says, just as the waiter takes our plates away. "Where've you been?"

My mood crashes somewhat. "I told you: I have some things to take care of."

"Come on, don't give me that," he says. "I've left you about a million messages. Everyone is worried sick because this is the first time in your life that you've been absent from school. You know that the exams start in three weeks, right?"

"I know that, Alex," I hiss, "I'm aware of that, but what I'm dealing with is unavoidable, all right? I can't help it. I am studying. I am working through the textbooks. I'll be fine. I just - I don't want to talk about it."

I'm saved from further interrogation just as Alex's brother, Leon, enters through the kitchen. Just the sight of him makes me want to vomit.

That's because I loathe him with all my heart.

He's that typical brother that your boyfriend or best friend has that, just out of the goodness of his heart, tries to bang every one of your friends. When he fails, he tries to make trouble for you. Only he made Alex force me to go work at the Somerset Mall with him, helping him to sell sushi. He told me on a daily basis that I was stupid, fat and ugly. I held out for three weeks, until I kicked him in the nuts and told him to go stuff himself. I call him Mule, because his laugh sounds exactly like the sound a donkey makes.

"Hey, Bigfoot," he says as he circles around the sushi bar to see us properly. Alex's head hangs dejectedly. He calls me Bigfoot because, traditionally in China, girls are supposed to have tiny feet. I have normal sized feet, but ...

"I suppose you're jealous, are you?" I ask.

"Of what?"

"Well, you know what they say about guys with big feet," I say, and glance down, "Yours are tiny."

"Excuse me?"

"Hey, I get it," I say, holding my hands up, "Your species of mule don't have big dicks."

"Hey, watch your language," Alex says, but he's also snorting with laughter. Leon starts approaching me, and I see his hand ball into a fist.

"Why, you little-"

"Touch me and I'll punch your teeth out. I mean it," I say. Alex tells Leon something in Chinese, and the dimwitted mule turns on his heel and walks away.

"So what don't you want to talk about?" he asks me. My shoulders slump and I sigh, looking away. "You didn't honestly think that you would be able to change the subject, did you?"

"Yes, I did," I say, "Because I really don't want to talk about it. To anyone. Maybe, in a few years, I'll talk about it to a psycologist or something."

"That bad, huh?"

I nod.

"All the more reason to tell me."

"No, all the more reason to stay in my house until it's sorted out," I say, "Look, all you need to know is that it's nothing suicidal or illegal. It's something personal, and I can't just leave it."

He nods.

We spend the rest of the evening until the restaurant closes catching up on things that've happened. Sort of. I just tell him about how my violin practices are going - slow, due to mistrust in the chibis, but I leave this part out - and what I've been studying. He tells me about things that happened at school, that a teacher was fired for punching one of our fellow students right in the face, and he gives me a reminder that the exams are fast on their way.

I groan at this point, not wanting to be reminded. I feel my backpack gradually filling up again before we say goodbye and go home.

Getting out of the house did me some good. I'm a lot more optimistic about spending the remainder of my life with a bunch of chibis, because now I know that there's a whole world that I can dump the annoying ones, if I wanted.

Pein immediately comes to mind.


	7. Chapter 7

**~*~ Chapter 7 - Exams ~*~**

Days pass, and my nerves build up as the time goes by. During all this time, Pein and his crew of miscreants are now allowed much more than a peek at the outside world, and it is past the time where it had merely been for punishment. If I let them out now, they will want revenge. And I can't risk that. Not now. Not two weeks before the exams.

Alex emails me the work of the day around six o'clock every night, so that I know what to study and what not. The chibis, surprisingly, help me. Lee and Gai asks me different questions, and Sakura has taken to being my teacher. She holds the answers in front of her and whacks me with a chakra-enhanced hand if I get it wrong.

Kakashi keeps to himself, ignoring Gai's taunts and jabs that he is being less than helpful by simply sitting there every day and reading porn. I get the faintest idea that he has been rereading the same book for several days.

Naruto, full of a feeling of duty and wanting to override Sasuke in any way, teams up with his rival and watches over the chibi prisoners. Tenten watches _them_, making sure they don't get distracted. Neji watches Deidara making his clay statues (the entire corner of my room is full of them now: they depict each of us, or birds or anything else the poor sod can think of) and even starts helping. They become the most unlikely pair of friends. Itachi sits in the window-sill and watches the rain day in and day out.

In a last glimmer of hope, I research the history of my mirror, and I find that it is about two hundred years old, and has been rumoured to be haunted, but none of the stories fit a bunch of fictional characters jumping out of it.

More days pass, and I'm reserved to asking my parents to buy me medication because of it. Somehow, they do not seem to think anything is wrong with me, but I do not press the matter.

On the last day, the day before the exams, two hours before I am due to go to bed, the two youthfully hyperactive chibis go through my work with me again. I am writing English Language the following day, so it is not complicated or a lot of work.

Working up to the time when I actually start writing, I am trembling from nerves. Whenever I look down at my books, I feel as though I'm about to be sick. I nearly get a heart attack when there's a fidget in my backpack, and a small voice in my ear whispers, "You've got this, Lila-chan. Just remember what we studied!"

It's definitely Lee's voice. There's a fidget again, and then everything is silent. The knot in my stomach loosens ever so slightly, and the teacher starts handing out our papers.

I'm surprised at the ease with which I write. Somehow, the knowledge of my little friends' presence right there with me gives me confidence. I write the exam with ease, knowing every answer to everything I am asked. Afterwards, Alex follows me out of the building to take me home.

"So, how was it?" he asks me as we walk.

"Surprisingly easy," I say, "I got a weird burst of confidence just as we started writing. You?"

"Easy as pie," he says with a grin, "I still don't get why South Africa doesn't have Advanced Placement. We would belong there."

I snort. "We'd be about the only two in the class."

"Dieter and Liza might get in, too," he says thoughfully. They are the other two best and brightest right under us.

The chibis don't show themselves until I am inside the house. The three that were in my backpack jump out of it and most of the others meet me in the sitting room, jumping about excitedly and demanding how the paper went.

"What in hell is going on out here?"

I freeze, my heart pounding as my father walks into the sitting room from the hallway. He looks up, around at the chibis, and then back at me, eyes wide.

"I can explain," I croak.

"Dynamic Entry!"

Gai appears above my father's head and hits him with a wooden stick. His eyes roll upwards and he falls on the floor, face down. I look up at Gai, who is now standing on top of my father's head.

"What did you do?" I cry, not knowing how else to respond.

"We were all thinking it," Gai says simply, flashing his brilliant white teeth. "Come on, Lee! Let's see how fast we can get him to his bed!"

"Hai, sensei!" Lee says, running after Gai. Together, they lift my father and drag him back to his bedroom, hitting his head on the side of the cupboard on the way.

"So, how did it go?" Kakashi asks, calmly strolling into the room and jumping onto the seat of one of the armchairs to see me better.

"It went well. Really well," I say, sighing with relief, "But I don't have time to chat now. Time to get ready for Math."

We work together for the rest of the day, working out different equations together. Neji and Sasuke keep debating on the answers, but the duck-ass-headed Uchiha tries to find the most complicated way to solve it each time.

"Sas-gay, just go away, will you?" I snap after a while.

"Hmph."

He strolls away.

Around six o'clock, there are three knocks on the door. Before I can finish blinking, each of the chibis found a hiding place: behind my books, under the pillows, inside the sink and into the cardboard boxes that serve as their beds.

"Lila?" my father says, entering.

"Yeah?"

"Were you - were you in here all this time?"

"Yeah," I say. It's not entirely a lie. "I've been preparing for Math since I got back from school. Why?"

"I just had a really weird dream, and you were in it."

"That's a little perverty, and maybe you should lay off the whiskey for a bit."

"I'm the father. I do the lecturing," he snaps. He looks around my room. "What are you doing with that clay box?"

"It's none of your business," I say, a little annoyed at his attitude, "Anyway, would you mind? I'm kinda busy."

He gets out again without a word. The chibis emerge from their hiding place and we continue preparing for Math.

Each day seems to go by a little faster. I do not mind the few off days that I have in order to study for the bigger subjects, such as Biology, Consumer's Studies and Visual Arts.

By the end of the exams, I'm a nervous wreck all over again because of the stress about my marks.

"Just take comfort in the thought that, this time next year, you're finished with school," Naruto says with a grin.

"Yes, and on my way to university."

His expression turns to one of disgust. "Why would you want to go to university?"

"A president needs university qualifications," I snap.

"Why would you want to be president?"

I glare at him, not wanting to answer any more questions. He rolls his eyes and walks away.

After the last exam, I go to bed at night feeling very uneasy about what my marks will turn out to be. As I get ready for bed, I tuck the chibis in for the very first time before getting into my own. Like every night, Deidara and Itachi are the ones watching the clay-covered tin can.

The following morning I, for some reason, woke up with a terrible start. I sit up, gasping, and feel cold sweat running down my face.

I look around wildly, searching for the chibis. But there's no one there. Panic-stricken, I look around the room, and my eye catches the calendar on the desk on the other side of the room.

April, 25th.

None of it every happened.

My eyes move slightly upward.

A tiny clay statue is resting on top of the calendar.

**A/N:** Well, that's it, guys. The very last chapter. It's a very open ending, so that you can think ahead if you want to

XD

Check out my other works. I have two other Naruto fics so far, and a Supernatural fic.  
Also, I have a Deviantart account, if you want to check out my poetry and drawings/paintings.

Anyway, thanks for sticking to the story. Maybe I'll start another soon. Just look out for them within the coming months.

Moanna out.  
XD


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